Serbia's authoritarian ruler personally intervened to advance an allegedly illegal scheme to hand over a protected site in Belgrade for a Trump tower, the Guardian can reveal. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
Aleksandar Vučić summoned officials to a meeting at his presidential offices about the project, which has culminated in a landmark indictment of senior figures from his regime on charges of abuse of public office.
The criminal case is believed to be the first resulting from the Trumps' global moneymaking campaign, described by critics as a "pay to play" arrangement where everything from sanctions relief to cutting-edge chips is available to those who enrich the first family and their associates.
The alleged scheme to override the protected status of a historic building in the Serbian capital looms over an election scheduled for 25 October, when Vučić will seek to extend his 12 years in power in the face of a mass protest movement spurred by government corruption.
A nationalist former propaganda chief under Slobodan Milošević, Vučić hosted the US president's son Donald Trump Jr and son-in-law Jared Kushner in Belgrade as they developed plans for a $500m hotel and residential tower to add to their global property portfolios.
After the abuse of power charges were brought last December, Kushner's company announced the project would not proceed "at this time". Vučić threatened reprisals, calling the prosecutors "corrupt gangs" who "fabricated cases".
"We have lost an exceptional investment," the Serbian president said. "I will personally ensure that everyone who participated in causing this damage is held accountable."
Vučić's culture minister is among those charged with abuse of power. But a Guardian investigation, drawing on interviews and leaked documents, reveals that the Serbian president himself led the initial meeting where the alleged scheme was discussed. This crucial meeting is not mentioned in the indictment, raising questions about what information the prosecutors are holding back and why.
Representatives of the Trumps and Kushner said they had no part in the removal of the building's protected status and that it would be "false" to say the Belgrade project was part of a "pay to play" scheme.
Vučić did not respond to requests for comment. His decision to call a snap election means that a hearing at which witnesses might reveal details of his involvement will not take place until after the vote.
On 6 February 2024, Dubravka Đukanović, a Serbian conservation professor in her 60s, arrived for a meeting at the presidency, a domed former royal palace. For three years, she had been the director of the country's institute for the protection of cultural monuments.
The topic was the General Staff building, the former Yugoslav ministry of defence in central Belgrade. The building, an architectural gem seen as an emblem of resistance to the Nazis, was already cherished when Nato forces bombed it in 1999 during its campaign to force Milošević to withdraw from Kosovo, deepening its resonance.
Vučić himself had reaffirmed the General Staff building's legally protected status in 2016. Now, the president said he wanted Đukanović to rescind it, according to two people with knowledge of the meeting. Some unspecified "foreign investor" was keen on the site.
Under Serbian law, stripping the General Staff building of its protected status was not in Đukanović's gift. Her institute would have to commission an expert opinion, which would have to conclude that there were good reasons why protected status was no longer merited.
But the president wanted it done. At 6ft 6in and intolerant of dissent, Vučić can be intimidating. His tone towards Đukanović and another heritage official present was unpleasant, the sources said. He told them they were lazy and incompetent. The message was clear: do what I want or resign.
A plausible explanation for Vučić's forceful intervention came the following month, when an agreement between the Serbian government and Kushner's real estate company leaked.
Married to Trump's daughter Ivanka, Kushner had been an influential White House aide during his father-in-law's first term. Since Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election, Kushner had been concentrating on his investment fund.
By early 2024, Trump was storming to the Republican nomination and was favourite to win the coming election. If Trump took back the White House, Kushner would once more be one of the most influential people on the planet.
The leaked agreement showed the Serbian authorities had granted Kushner's company a 99-year lease over the General Staff site, free of charge.
Kushner, whose spokesperson said he had been looking at the project since 2021, posted an image of the design on X, professing himself "excited".